Bound

Adelphe bolted immediately for the door only for another even heavier cracking to bellow out. It came out so threatening that she paused. A few steps behind her, I caught up and stared for her reaction. She didn’t have the same sort of standoffish look. It was a call for help.

I nodded.

She slapped the door to scan it. It slid open when a completely unfiltered cacophony belted out of the hall. I gave her the lead and followed in close behind. It was more than obvious what was happening, but I still hoped I was wrong. It was stupid to have such a hope.

As we turned the corner to the living room, the natural conclusion was confirmed. Louise had gone wild once more. Green glowed from her eyes and lines dots her arms and legs. Whatever the hell this disease, virus, bug was, it had progressed in her. She looked similar to the woman. Dammit, I didn’t bring any weapons with me. I didn’t think I’d be getting into another fight.

“Sol! Louise! What are you doing?” Her mother rushed to reach her acting like this was just a tantrum.

I pushed off with a boost from my legs knowing how this would go. Tackling the woman down to the ground, Louise just missed striking her mum. The little girl smashed into the wall cracking it out in circles. An impressive feat for something that should have been impact resistant. Her augment limiters had to be off like with the other one.

Pushing Adelphe back a little bit, Louise still didn’t seem to have a target in mind. There was a hesitation and slowness to her compared to what happened in the park. Perhaps, she wasn’t completely gone? I could only hope.

I looked down to Adelphe. “Stay down! Louise’s going to hurt you in that state!”

“I’m her mother! It’s my job—“

I slapped her hard. “It’s your job to stay alive so that you can be with your daughter once she calms down! I’ll do my best to restrain her.”

There was some shock on her face. It took her out of the moment, but she recovered fast enough upon hearing a creaking groan from Louise pulling out of the wall. “Valeria, how dare you! I won’t do nothing while my Louise destroys our home!”

“Then find something that we can use to restrain her. I’m not built for this sort of thing.”

“We don’t have anything like that!”

I stood up and threw a nearby vase down the hall towards the door. It distracted Louise for the moment. “You’re a House! Leonce works on augments, you gotta have something that ties down limbs! Get it! I’ll get her out of your home!”

Once I made myself clear, I sprinted down the hall not even checking if she agreed. Louise wasn’t going to be detoured for long and I couldn’t let her attack her mother. In range, I leapt on her back hoping to pin her to the floor. She might have been a child with adolescent augments, but that still made her stronger than someone without. My jacket would only be able to help so much. Leverage was going to be key.

I tried to remember my self defense training, limited as it was. Pinning down her arms was my priority with me sitting on her back. Though my weight wouldn’t be enough to hold her for long. She lacked coordination and a full berserk state like the woman. So I think I had that in my favor.

My arms fought to grapple her down. I could get one arm behind her only for the other to break free enough that I had to go back to fighting. She at least still didn’t ignore her joints for the moment. So a pin could work.

My surprise round faded though as she started to buck me. Louise tried to push her feet up to get the necessary strength to throw me. I leaned back fighting with her squirming. I was starting to feel my position failing.

I looked down the hall to see the mother still standing there. I knew I was blocking the path, but move your ass already! “Don’t just stand there! I can’t keep her restrained without help for long! Go!” At that moment, I lost control of Louise.

She managed to get enough room to lift and jump together into the wall. The air kicked out of my lungs with that. I coughed gasping for breath as the little girl broke free. Her interest locked on me at least.

Her hand came for me. The green glowing eyes intensified. Why do they go berserk from this thing? Why did they attack people? What was this damn thing?

Regardless, I slipped down to dodge her grasp. A fast knee kick threw her off me. Enhanced, it sent her crashing into the other side a meter away. Her back whacked against the surface, but unlike her charge didn’t manage to even scratch it. “Sorry, Louise, but I know you’re a tough kid.”

I pulled Louise by the foot towards the nearest door. Slapping my hand on the panel, it opened up and I dragged her half way in. “B! Override the security checks!”

The little monkey jumped out of my jacket and touched the door frame. Louise already recovered from the stun that I had to start fighting to keep her place. Her feet start kicking at me. It felt like a tantrum now as I struggled to keep her still.

I leaned out still seeing her idiot mother standing there. “Get Leonce to do it if you don’t got the balls! Your daughter needs help and doing nothing isn’t it!”

“Y-Yes!”

“Stop standing there! Move!”

“Right!”

I panted a little heavy with breathing. But I still managed to keep her pinned for the moment. I looked over to B. “How long before you’re done?”

“If this was a normal residence, I’d already be finished! But the House has better protection on these sorts of things!”

Rocking backwards, I pushed down trying to brace my feet against the frame and her to use my pants’ strength to its fullest. It helped to pressure the little girl, but I had a bad position. It wasn’t going to last. And she finally threw me off once more.

Though not as rough, I still banged against the wall. I fought to focus seeing Louise start to get up. He needed more time, dammit! I pushed back up to go in for another grapple only for the door to whip closed.

Louise smashed into the frame pinned down by the door. The internal machinery groaned as it couldn’t fully close fighting to go through the whole length. An arm and leg remained free trying to grab at me while her entire torso remained locked inside the threshold. It had her right arm pinned up, but even with the safeties off, an augment’s frame should be roughly equal to that of the door’s.

I sighed with some relief falling back against the wall. My heart pounded against my chest. Everything felt on fire. I really wasn’t built for all of this fighting.

Two pairs of footsteps came rushing. B jumped up into my jacket before her parents fully arrived in the hall. I stood up swallowing to push down the bit of fatigue. Loosely I gestured to the door. “I couldn’t get her outside, but I stopped her from rampaging.”

Leonce tried to rush to his daughter, but her foot kicked out into his thigh. It knocked him back a little in surprise. “My Sol! Louise? What happened to you?”

I looked over to Adelphe. “Did you explain?” She darted her eyes away from me. Oh for—“No time to explain, the door’s safeties are overridden to lock her down. Do you have something we can tie her up with until she can calm down?”

His eyes went slightly out of focus as he stared at his daughter and then wife. Dammit, focus people! I grabbed his shoulder to pull his attention to me. “Sir, I need you to get the door while I restrain her. Do you have something?”

A rusty nod came from him. I firmly shook him to get more action. “This, I use it for tying up spare parts.” He handed me a large band with a coupling tie. I’d seen things like it before to understand. I took it from him and stood prepared to take Louise.

He looked to have a clear head finally and understood the plan. Going to the door, he put his hands on the edges glancing to me for the go ahead. I nodded, snapping the band open.

A brief countdown, I braced for the next assault. It took him a moment to fully fight the door, but he pulled it back releasing Louise. She leapt at me, clawing her hands down my jacket ripping through cloth as I tried to lean away from the flailing.

Once I grounded myself, I kicked out my leg knocking out her balance. Louise tilted quickly as I leaned into force her to the ground. We crashed hard, but I pulled back, getting the coupling up and around her. A swift hit of the button locked it and the other rolled in the extra length until her arms were pinned to her sides.

I dropped back off her to see if it held. Louise struggled and fought, but unlike me, the band kept. I think it was finally over.

Looking over to the parents, their relief turned rapidly to anger and hate as they fixed on me. “What?!”